After experiencing painful losses over the past nine hundred years, Celestia sees a new light emerge in her life.
After more than nine hundred years of losing beloved ponies to her, Celestia finds herself alone in a huge palace, surrounded by guards that served more as decoration. And soon after receiving the news that an entire village was saved from a landslide, the Princess is surprised by a filly who has been bestowed with the powers of an alicorn.
Celestia sees in the filly a series of possibilities and potential to become a princess, now will this little light amidst the darkness of her life be maintained?
Celestia had already experienced many losses in her long life, first having lost her teacher after he made a sacrifice for the safety of Equestria. A few years later she lost a great friend, almost a sister to Celestia, Princess Amore, tragically murdered by a dark pony. Next was one of her first apprentices, Radiant Hope, who ran away in search of her best friend. All these losses caused Celestia a great shock, but none of them had caused her as much pain as Luna's banishment.
Having to banish her own sister was already a difficult fact to deal with, and it becomes more distressing when she realizes that it was completely and completely her fault that things had gotten to that point. She was so busy with herself, with her tasks, with her greatness, that she had ignored the fact that Luna was also shaken by the losses they suffered, was shaken by the loneliness she felt every night, wishing she had the same attention as Celestia receive during the day just to not feel so alone.
Now all that was left was a huge palace, packed with guards that decorated the palace more than actually protected it. Having meetings and stacks of papers to take her mind off her problems, Celestia now found herself on her throne, distracting herself with two stacks of documents to be signed and delivered on the same day. Her attention was taken away from the paperwork when she heard the door to the throne room being opened abruptly by one of her guards, a robust brown stallion, he seemed shocked by something, catching his breath briefly, the stallion said:
"Your highness! There was a landslide in a village near the frozen crystal mountains northeast of here..." The guard maintained his apprehensive expression.
Celestia quickly put aside her pen and papers and jumped up from her throne, shocked and as worried as the guard. "Has the search team been sent yet? Are supplies on the way as well?"
"Yes, your highness, it turns out that..." the guard looked at the door and once again at Celestia, even more apprehensive. "When the team got there, they were told that everyone in the village was out of danger."
"Oh, that's a relief..." Celestia's agitation subsided. Her wing feathers, once ruffled, were now smooth.
"However... A filly, she... Your highness had better see for herself. Powder Bomb! Bring her to the princess." The brown stallion called.
From the other side of the door came a unicorn stallion, bluish gray, a little more robust and taller than his colleague, right behind him came a pink filly, with a colorful mane, she looked terrified, that touched Celestia's heart even though she was still confused about the situation. At first, the filly looked like a normal unicorn, until she decided to open a pair of fuzzy, comb-shaped wings, with a dark purple gradient at the tips of the feathers. Celestia was shocked, not believing what her eyes were seeing. The guards saw the expression of shock in the princess's eyes and looked at each other without knowing what to do. Powder Bomb stepped forward.
"Your highness, we... We found her in the crowd of the village, from what we understand from the residents, this lady was the one who saved them from the landslide." The blue stallion looked at the filly, giving her a reassuring smile. “Come on, don’t be shy…” The guard extended his hoof towards her. The filly accepted and approached the blue stallion.
"What's your name, young lady?" Celestia lowered herself until she was at the filly's height. The filly still looked scared, she flinched at Celestia's proximity.
"M-Mi A-A-Amore Cadenza, but you can call me Cadance..." She looked away, still nervous.
Amore? Is it possible that there is some familiarity? Celestia thought. "Powder Bomb and Ginger Pie, I ask you to leave." The guards nodded and left the throne room without question. Now Celestia looked at the filly, keeping her expression as neutral as possible. Cadance's eyes, despite being scared, had a familiar glow to the princess. "Cadance, okay? Well, follow me, you need to calm down a little." Celestia smiled sweetly at Cadance, who responded with a shy smile.
· · • • • ✤ • • • ·
·
Celestia prepared a cozy room so that Cadance wouldn't feel so threatened, in the room there was a huge dark blue circular rug with some burgundy pillows and right above it there was a small table with two cups of tea and a plate of cookies, around the table. The room had large shelves filled with old books. The filly took a sip of the tea, feeling the heat of the liquid ease the tension that was consuming her.
"Do you feel better now?" Celestia smiled at her. The filly waved but said nothing. "Cadance, what were you?"
"Hm? What do you mean?" Cadance looked confused.
"I mean, what were you before you became an alicorn?" Celestia took a sip of her tea. "As my sister and I were the only alicorns until then, we never entertained the idea that other pony races could achieve the power of one. I say this because your wings are unique."
The filly looked at her own wings and blushed when she realized that her princess was praising her. "Well... I was a Pegasus before all this happened, the village has a large number of Pegasus, although we also have earth ponies and unicorns."
"Interesting, what are your parents' names?" The princess froze when she noticed the look of sadness on Cadance.
"I don't know... I never met them, I'm an orphan." Cadance bit into one of the cookies, hoping they would take the bitterness out of this part of her life.
"Oh, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to upset you with that question." Celestia felt like punching herself in the face.
"It's okay, I don't have parents, but in the village there are ponies who take in or simply give food to orphan ponies, I'm one of the orphans who receive food and that's enough for me." The pink mare paused. "Princess... Will I be a princess too?" The mare seemed apprehensive about the matter.
"Maybe yes, you proved yourself worthy of having such power and now everything will depend on how you use it. Now tell me, how did your transformation happen?" Celestia took another sip of her tea.
"It all started when the group of Pegasus in our village started arguing with the group of unicorns, they fought because they had decided on a different route for migration. The Pegasus wanted to go to the west because there were fewer mountains, while the unicorns wanted to go to the East because it was warmer, the Earth Ponies wanted to stay in those lands because they were fertile and rich in minerals, but none of them reached a consensus." Cadance paused, trying to remember the correct order of events. "It went from an argument to a riot and then to a fight involving personal frustrations. I had noticed for some time that the ponies in the village had a resentment towards each other, but I never thought it would escalate to anything like this..."
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
The previously peaceful village was now filled with turmoil, the Pegasus flew low so that their wings and hooves hit some unicorn or earth pony that was right below them, the unicorns shot lightning from their horns or levitated some solid object so that they hit the Pegasus, the earth ponies used kicks and farming tools to poke the Pegasus. Cadance was horrified by that situation, she took the youngest colts that were lost in the middle of the conflict and took them to a hill away from that confusion.
"Are you guys okay?" The pink Pegasus turned her attention to the group of foals in front of her.
Some were just dirty with crushed vegetables and fruits, others had some bruises from being hit by stones, and others had scratches from farming tools. The breeze from the hill gradually became a cold and sharp wind, Cadance looked around trying to find the source of the wind and when looking at the sky she saw a huge whirlpool forming in the clouds. That didn't seem to be the work of Pegasus, there weren't enough flyers to make a whirlpool of that magnitude.
"CADANCE! LOOK!" A small earth pony pointed towards the mountains.
Cadance turned to look at where the pony was pointing, her eyes widened as she noticed the tons of snow and ice falling from the tops of the mountains, heading towards the village. "Children's, stay here!" Her wings opened and in an instant she gained momentum to fly towards the village not so far from where they were. The strong and cold wind was making it difficult for her to stay stable in flight, she felt the tips of her feathers start to freeze. She stopped above the confusion, she quickly looked back, seeing the huge fog slowly approaching.
"YOU HAVE TO STOP! PLEASE! AAH!" Cadance tried to call out to them, but all she got was a rake to the side. "STOP PLEASE!" She tried to call out to them once more, looking up, she saw three ghostly horses flying over the confusion, bringing increasingly cold.
Fear caused a tightness in Cadance's chest, as she looked back, she saw that the slide was getting closer. She fell from the sky and fell in the middle of the conflict, her wings froze due to the change in weather, now there was no way for her to save herself either. "LISTEN TO ME, YOU HAVE TO STOP!" Cadance screamed as much as her throat could bear, she couldn't bear to see that disunity, the lack of love in the hearts of the ponies would be the cause of their ruin. Her heart beat harder, became brighter, a strange aura enveloped her and lifted her off the ground, accumulating on her forehead. That made the crowd stop and stare, shocked at what they were seeing. The magic enveloped the ponies and levitated them into the air, without being aware of what she was doing, Cadance took them out of the village, placing them on the same hill where the younger foals were. As soon as they became aware of what had happened, they saw all their huts being buried by snow and crystal clear mountain debris.
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
"I didn't know exactly what had happened and the next thing I knew, I had this, this and this..." Cadance pointed to the horn and the colorful feathers on its wings, then quickly stood up and showed the mark on its flank. A blue crystalline heart, with a golden support on the sides.
Celestia, who was taking a sip of her tea, gasped when she saw the filly's cutie mark. She composed herself and wiped her lips and the table with a napkin. "A thousand pardons Cadance, my goodness... Your mark..." Celestia coughed, trying to get rid of the feeling of tea stuck in her throat.
"What? What about my cutie mark? What does it mean?" Cadance was worried and perhaps as shocked as Celestia. Will it be something dangerous? What's dangerous about a heart? She thought to herself.
"Cadance, I think your transformation goes far beyond an act of altruism..." Celestia cleared her throat. "Your brand symbolizes love, unity and especially protection, this is something truly good and powerful, as you have a special power to unite ponies."
"Really? But if it's just that, then why the shock?" Cadance frowned.
Celestia stood up, spread her wide, rounded wings, showing her grandeur even more to the young filly, who swallowed hard at the thought that she would be punished for having said something foolish. "Cadance, from now on, everything I can tell you will only be said in class. I want to make you my student." Celestia gave a confident and encouraging smile to Cadance, who returned it with stars in her eyes.
"Student? I'll be your student? B-but I... I don't even know how to use my horn..." Cadance seemed incredulous at the Princess's statement. "I don't even have a home anymore, how can I stay here?"
"And that's why I want you to accept me as your mentor, learning to use your horn will be part of your training and if you allow me... I can take you in as my niece." Celestia held Cadance's chin with her hoof and slowly lifted it so that the filly was looking into her eyes. "I see in you the determination, courage and altruism that a great leader needs to have, just as I see in you the look of an old woman of mine, who was as determined as you."
Cadance smiled, her eyes brimming with tears that she forced herself to hold back, flying she reached Celestia's neck and hugged him. The Princess sweetly hugged her, after so many years, feeling a new light emerge in her life. "I'll take that as a yes... Your classes start tomorrow." Celestia pulled her away from the hug.
Recent events didn't let Cadance sleep, she was worried about what the future awaited and what her life would be like once she officially received some royal title. She tossed and turned in bed, but her sleep did not come and, when she felt that she could finally sleep, the first rays of sunlight illuminated her room, making the filly force herself to leave the comfort of the bed. Not long after she got up, knocking on the door caught her attention.
"Miss Cadance?" The mysterious voice called to him from behind the door.
Cadance opened it, revealing a paler-spotted caramel mare with a fluffy, curly brown mane. "Oh, hello! Good morning, actually." The filly greeted her.
"Good morning, I'm Cinnamon Shortcake, I came to prepare your bath and introduce you to the palace properly during the princess absence." Cinnamon gave a short bow to the small alicorn in front of her.
"Absence? But she-" Cadance is cut off by the older mare.
"I'm aware that she had committed herself to your education and care, but there was an emergency in the Duchy of Maretonia that she unfortunately could not ignore, she left a few hours ago, so she must return before sundown." Cinnamon explained, she entered the room. "That's why she asked me to show you the palace, after all, you should be familiar with the place where you will live."
"Oh, I see, actually, I want know how big this castle is. It must be quite easy to get lost here.", said Cadance.
"You have no idea! In my first week here, I ended up getting lost countless times in the hallways. You'll get used to it over time, plus you won't be alone during your stay, you'll have a friend to spend time with." The caramelized mare entered the bathroom, preparing the bathtub with warm water and soap. Soon after, he left the bathroom, now heading towards the bedroom door. "Now come take a shower, we're going to have a long morning." Cinnamon left, closing the door behind him, leaving Cadance alone again.
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
Cadance was stunned by the number of guards in the hallways and outside. What is so dangerous about Equestria that the princess needs so many guards? Cadance thought, although she tried to push those thoughts away. Only one of the guards there was familiar to her, it was Powder Bomb, seeing him again was comforting for the girl. She couldn't contain herself and ran towards the unicorn with a smile on her face.
"Hi, Powder!" The filly hugged him on her front leg. The stallion, happy to see the filly he helped the day before, hugged the filly back.
"Cadance! Don't run like that, you might end up hurting yourself." Cinnamon followed close behind with hurried trots, she didn't notice Powder in front of her.
"Don't be tough on her, Cinna." Powder laughed, Cadance also couldn't help but giggle when she heard Cinnamon's nickname.
"Not wanting her to get hurt is completely different from being tough, okay?!" The mare rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault you're irresponsible with kids."
"To be clear, I was immensely offended by this!" Powder said cynically, it was clear he was enjoying Cinnamon's irritation.
"I pretend to believe it. Come on Cadance." Cinnamon dodged Powder and, before he moved away completely, she hit his shoulder with her side.
Cadance followed close behind the older mare, who glanced sideways to see Powder's wicked smile and a wink. Cinnamon huffed in response and slammed the door behind him. The filly didn't quite understand what had happened, but she felt she shouldn't ask. The two mares made their way to the west wing of the castle, where they have a library with a wide range of books.
"Wow, I've never been to a library, but I learned to read from some newspapers my group picked up in the middle of a migration." Cadance admired the shelves filled with books.
"Do you want to take a look at them? If you're interested in any, just pick them up." Cinnamon encouraged her.
The filly spent a little more than an hour looking at the book shelves, in the end she decided to pick up some romantic book that seemed strangely attractive to her and put it under her wing. The pair then crossed a main hall, heading towards the east wing. They made a brief visit to Celestia's kitchen and office and then went to the palace courtyard. There were some guards, mares and stallions, either in training or just talking.
"What are we here to do?" Cadance was surprised to see Cinnamon looking from one side to the other.
"I want to introduce you to somepony, but I can't find them. Oh, forget it, they're there." The older mare pointed.
A little further away from the other guards, there was a stallion that Cadance recognized as Ginger Pie and just in front of him was a unicorn colt, his fur was white and his mane was blonde. The colt was lying down, panting and with a poisoned gaze aimed at Ginger Pie.
"Come on, boy, get up! That barrel hasn't even moved!" said Ginger Pie.
"That's not fair! I'm a prince! My royal hooves should never stoop to the work of a commoner." The colt stood up and stamped his hoof in protest.
"Oh, really? Because this 'commoner's job' was direct orders from YOUR AUNT." Ginger raised her voice. The colt did not retreat.
"What an outrage! Aunt Celestia would never order me, her only and favorite nephew, to wear myself out like that!" The colt also raised his voice, making an ugly face.
"Oh, she would definitely do that, especially for a stingy colt and-oh! Hello, Cinnamon and...Cadance? Correct?" Ginger Pie left her frown aside and smiled widely as she saw the pair approach.
"Hello, Ginger, Cadance, this is Prince Blueblood." The older mare looked at the little prince, wishing that he would at least be polite to the newly arrived filly. "He is Celestia's distant nephew and was in her custody for some time..."
"Pleasure to meet you." The filly noticed Blueblood's arrogant nature. She began to feel tense when she saw that, in addition to his arrogance, he had a contempt in his eyes.
"Um, hello, Canance." The colt pouted, didn't even look at the filly, leaving her disconcerted by the situation.
"Blueblood, you don't want me to write Celestia again about her behavior, do you?" Ginger gave the prince a motivational push to stop being a mean boy.
Blueblood growled and stifled a grumble, he finally turned to look at Cadance. He noticed her colorful mane, her horn a little longer than normal and then he noticed that she also had wings. His gaze changed from contempt to curiosity, then, upon realizing that he was dealing with someone at the same level of position as Celestia, his stance completely changed. He changed from an arrogant scowl to a look softened by cynicism.
"Forgive my rudeness, princess...Cadance?" Blueblood puffed out his chest to appear more confident. "Some ponies just don't understand that we royals must abstain from certain types of work." He sent his poisoned gaze towards Ginger again.
"Ah, okay, those barrels look heavy anyway, want some help?" Cadance stood in front of the barrel.
Blueblood was going to refuse the help so as not to feel his pride hurt, but before she said anything, he saw her push the barrel, he just didn't expect her to push it so easily.
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
In the early afternoon, after exploring the entire castle (at least the parts known to the employees), Cinnamon, Cadance and Blueblood waited for Celestia's return, who could soon be seen in the distance in her carriage pulled by four pegasus stallions. Blueblood seemed completely uninterested in things that didn't concern him and his interests, ignoring the conversations and laughter of the pair of mares at his side. When the carriage landed, Celestia jumped to meet her charges, with a sweet smile.
"I'm sorry I left so suddenly this morning, Cadance. Before I forget, the duchess found out about what happened in the village and my choice to adopt her as a student, and sent you a gift." Celestia levitated under her wing a small box, covered with blue velvety fabric. "I recommend you open the present when we start our classes."
"Right." Cadance held the gift and placed it under her wing.
"Oh, I see you met Blueblood." Celestia smiled at her youngest nephew, who returned a forced smile. She turned her gaze to Cinnamon, trying to hide good-natured concern. "He didn't do much work, did he?" She whispered to Cinnamon.
"Not as much as he gave Ginger this morning." Cinnamon laughed.
"Anyway, Cinnamon, you can go home. Kids! Let's go inside." Celestia walked through the gates of the main hall, followed by Cadance and Blueblood.
Cadance looked around once again, trying to remember the tour he had taken with Cinnamon in the morning to memorize the route once again.
"Hey! Cadance." The colt whispered.
"What it was?" Cadance slowed her steps to get closer to the boy.
"Are you really a princess? You don't even have a crown." The colt looked at the void in the crown, occupied by a high bun in the mare's mane. "Which kingdom are you from?"
"I'm from Equestria and I'm not a princess yet." Cadance whispered to him.
"I meant which kingdom will you rule."
Before Cadance could respond, Celestia stopped abruptly, causing Cadance and Blueblood to bump into her. The princess turned her head from side to side and then opened the doors. Quickly, Cadance's eyes lit up when she noticed that she was in the library again.
"Oh, Cinnamon brought me here in the morning! She let me get a book." Cadance flew into the library, excited.
"Argh, what are we doing here again?" Blueblood rolled his eyes in disgust.
He walked close to one of the bookshelves and leaned against them, accidentally pushing a fake book that served as a lever, and thus opening a passage between the shelves. Due to being caught off guard, Blueblood had no time to react and balance himself, falling down the stairs in the process. Cadance and Celestia, worried, ran to see his situation and try to help him in some way, however, he was already on the floor of the last step. The two mares then carefully went down the stairs and lifted him up. He was awake, just a little disoriented due to the fall and his wounded pride at being seen in such an embarrassing situation.
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
Celestia showed them a part of the library that was closed to the rest of the staff and any other ponies who visited the palace library. There were books hundreds of years old, documents from millennia past, items of priceless historical value in the history of Equestria. The library was underground, its walls had roots attached to it, some strangely forming branches. The tables looked like they had been taken from a local park, they were made of oak wood and were slightly dusty from lack of use. Cadance and Blueblood sat side by side at the table, while Celestia sat across from them.
"Cadance, could you put the gift box on the table? Your first lesson will be to try to open the box with magic." Celestia said.
"Okay, but... How do I activate it?" Cadance poked her horn, not sure what she expected to happen.
"Just focus, tell me, can you feel an energy around you?"
Cadance wasn't sure what to answer, she pondered for a few seconds and tried to focus on feeling that energy. It was something soft, almost velvety, an energy that embraced and warmed her, pulsing like a heart.
"Hm, yes, it's weird..." Cadance closed her eyes, trying to maintain her concentration.
She felt this energy concentrate in her horn to the point where it became a bluish aura, it was weak, almost going out, but with a little more effort, Cadance was able to keep her horn lit.
"What should I do now?" The filly asked, with difficulty keeping her horn lit, her head was starting to hurt.
"Now focus your energy on the lid of the box and think about which direction it wants to go."
Cadance tried to do as Celestia said, but it was harder than it looked. Instead of her aura only involving the lid of the box, it reflected on some books, on Celestia's crown and on Blueblood, who fell to the ground as soon as she lost the strength to continue concentrating energy on her horn. She dropped the items (and the pony) sharply, becoming breathless in the process. She continued with her eyes closed, trying to calm the discomfort she felt in her head.
"Ow! Damn!" Blueblood got up from the floor and sat on the table again, this time a little further away from the mare. "Don't tell me you did it on purpose."
"I didn't, I'm sorry about that actually." Cadance caught her breath. "It seemed so easy to watch unicorns do this, how can you make it look so easy?"
"I just think about what I want to get and taa-daa, I get it." Blueblood acted out his explanation as he took Celestia's crown.
"It really seems to be just that, but sometimes not even unicorns themselves can find it easier to concentrate their magic. As babies, unicorns are not fully aware of their magic and that is why they have a large magical percentage compared to adult unicorns , of course there are exceptions, but even so, when they reach childhood, unicorns lose this magical percentage and begin to have greater difficulty controlling magic." Celestia explained. "In the same way it happens with a pegasus, when they are babies, they are capable of flying for kilometers on end and with greater resistance than that of a pony even in childhood, but as they become older they lose this ability, having to train and readapt their flight. You, Cadance, have a greater facility with flying compared to me. As for me and Blueblood, we have a greater facility with wielding magic compared to you. And look on the bright side, for a first attempt at wielding magic, you It came out really well." Celestia subtly pushed the gift box open, revealing a pair of dark blue satin ribbon bows.
"How beautiful!" Cadance grabbed the bonds with her hooves.
"Are they the satin made by Maretonia? You never brought me one of those." Blueblood crossed the... Hooves?
"You have a closet full of ties made from the same satin."
For Celestia, sometimes dealing with Blueblood was almost the same as dealing with Luna. Both were petty at times, although Blueblood was most of the time as petty as his younger aunt herself.
For any skill you want to develop, you need to have practice to improve. This, without a doubt, is the best advice for anything you do in your life, whether writing or painting, cooking or anything else. Having practice is a way to evolve. For Cadance, this was undoubtedly her personal motto. Since her first experience concentrating magic, she became familiar with the energetic sensation, surrounding her until she had the strength to cast magic on an object. Within a week, she was able to levitate small objects like feathers, dusters, apples, mundane things. It was a personal victory for Cadance and she hoped to be able to adapt within two days to begin levitating more massive and heavier objects, such as rocks and carts.
Celestia was proud of her new student's rapid advancement, although one question in particular about Cadance left her stumped: What actually made her become an alicorn? Celestia had seen similar cases of ponies saving their villages, towns and neighborhoods from catastrophes, but on none of these occasions had a new alicorn emerged. No pony, be it pegasus, terrestrial or unicorn, gains wings or a horn by chance, there must be something beyond and Celestia committed herself to discovering this in the same way in which she committed herself to making the arduous change of habit and character of her nephew Blueblood, which honestly, was one of the hardest tasks she had ever had in her nineteen seventy-seven years.
Theory was an extremely essential part of any type of practice and Celestia needed to confirm a large part of her theories about Cadance to put into practice what she omitted from the girl. She took into consideration where the village was, in the northeast of Equestria, close to the Crystal Mountains, where further north was the emptiness and fog of what the old Crystal Empire should be, and then something clicked in her mind.
"Before Luna and I banished King Sombra to ice for a thousand years, the king placed a curse on the Empire making him disappear most likely for a thousand years as well, to align with his possible return, if that's right, the His curse must be weakening, almost breaking apart, after nine hundred and seventy-seven years of surrounding and blocking the magic that comes from within and without the Crystal Empire."
Celestia wrote on her parchment, her mind racing, trying to align her line of reasoning with the order of events. Unfortunately for her, she would have to stop writing and refocus on her life, her real tasks and her commitments. But to give herself a little boost, she reduced her amount of weekly meetings and daily commitments outside the palace to focus on her classes with Cadance and Blueblood.
"Hm, your highness? Please go ahead, your schedule is busy today and being late for the meeting with Fillydelphia's ministers will only mess up the schedule." A deep, hoarse voice echoed from behind the door.
"I'm coming! Just give me a second." Celestia then rolled up her parchment and shelved it on her dressing table. She was then greeted by her faithful secretary, Sharp Feather, an old unicorn stallion, with yellowish fur and a reddish-pink mane with the gray of age growing at the roots. "Sorry for the delay, I was... doing some paperwork."
"If it's the four-thirty paperwork, we can advance tomorrow's documents and reschedule next week's meeting for this week." The unicorn levitated a clipboard, making adjustments to the schedules.
"Please, I would appreciate it if you at least had an hour less just so I could focus on the kids a little more."
"More? We've already cut five hours from your official schedule to accommodate your tutoring."
"I know that, Sharp, do you know how boring it is to have to attend meetings, sign documents and sign documents about meetings? Things get very monotonous that way."
"I don't remember this palace ever being animated."
"He hasn't been lively for a long time..." Celestia walked just in front of Sharp Faether.
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
Without Cinamonn's presence, Cadance felt insecure walking around the palace, at least she still had the company of Blueblood, who seemed completely uninterested in being around her. In the royal garden, Cadance lay down on the grass with her book open to the first page, and Blueblood sat right in front of a rose bush, levitating a black notebook with blank pages and a pencil. This was one of the few moments where Blueblood wasn't being... Well, himself, an arrogant, arrogant colt. It was one of the few opportunities Cadance had to analyze him. He was a little tall for a colt and had few similarities to Celestia, namely the slightly longer horn and white fur. Now, she had also noticed that he had a blank flank.
"What are you looking at?" Blueblood dropped his notebook and pencil onto the grass.
Cadance quickly opened and closed her mouth without knowing what to say, she had stared too much and was embarrassed after he realized. "Nothing, um, sorry..." Cadance levitated the book and buried her face in it.
"You're a little strange. And your book is upside down." Blueblood turned his attention back to whatever he was scribbling in his notebook.
"Thanks for letting me know." Cadance leaned over to see what he was doing, he was drawing one of the roses on the bush. "I didn't know you drew."
"It's one of the few good things I've brought here since Celestia adopted me." He didn't take his focus off the drawing. "But I don't usually draw roses or other objects, I usually map places." Blueblood flipped through the notebook and showed a small recreation of each corridor of the palace seen from above.
"Did you draw the hallways of the west wing? It's all exactly right!"
"Yes, but it's not all exactly right, I got the library entrance wrong, it should have been on the left and not on the right, it was only wrong because I did it from memory."
"You're great as a cartographer, how come you didn't get a cutie mark for that?"
"Seriously, me, a prince, as a cartographer? That's not a prince's job." Blueblood pouted.
"And what does your cutie mark do to this? Celestia raises the sun, a job that wasn't for a princess."
"Okay, okay, Celestia raises the sun and the moon, but what about you? She got wings for some reason and it certainly wasn't for lifting a heart."
"And what am I? I'm not a princess, I don't have a crown, or a kingdom, much less I received this title. Having a horn and a pair of wings shouldn't be merit for receiving this title."
"Talking to you is very bad, you still have the habit of a simple commoner." The colt turned her face away. Cadance laughed, which left her confused. "What are you laughing about?"
"I'm laughing at your aristocratic nonsense. You judge commoners and forget that at some point in your life you will be their leader, and to make matters worse you end up being much worse than a commoner." Cadance continued laughing.
'You' and 'commoner' in the same sentence associated with Blueblood was like a stab to the prince's ego, he closed the notebook and stood up abruptly from the grass.
"Wipe your mouth when comparing me to ponies of that ilk!"
"Wipe your mouth when using 'commoner' as an insult! You don't even leave the palace to see what reality is like, you're trapped in a bubble full of privileges and on top of that you're under Celestia's wings as her protégé!" Cadance stood up and came face to face with Blueblood.
"What do you want me to do? My parents simply decided for themselves that I should live and act like one of those bums, without even giving me the chance to choose!"
This was the first time Cadance had seen a foal swear, it would be an understatement to say she was shocked. Blueblood, realizing that what he had said went beyond the limits of proper language, covered his lips and shrank back in shame, even more so when he remembered that this proved Cadance's comparison right.
"Remember that the employees here came from and live among them, including me." Cadance frowned, that was undoubtedly the last straw for the filly after all the insults from the arrogant prince.
The filly flew towards a cloud just above one of the palace towers. The initial shame turned into remorse after having said what he said, since in addition to offending the filly, he offended his guards, his personal cooks, his chambermaid and, to make matters worse, he offended his aunt, who also had his origins among the 'tramps'. ' even if it was a distant time. Blueblood thought about calling her, but if his ego wasn't hurt enough, he didn't want to have to trample on his pride either.
He decided to change his scene, not wanting to remember what had happened. He went to the guards' training yard, after all it was almost time for him to train with Ginger Pie. With his nose up, he looked away from Ginger and remained silent when the older man greeted him. It was Blueblood's custom to ask what the day's task was and then start complaining, however, today Ginger noticed that the prince was acting more downcast than like an annoying brat.
"What's wrong, kid? Did you run out of light fur shampoo again, or was it your antler polish?" Ginger tried to start a conversation.
“What ended was my spirits.”
"What was it this time?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Honestly? I don't want to know, but when you're sad it's good to have someone to talk to. Now tell me, what's bothering you?" Ginger handed the colt a harness, it was brown with some yellow lines drawing its sides.
"I just argued, nothing more. Why the harness? There's no field to plow here." Blueblood levitated the item, looking at it in disgust.
"Exactly, you will plow another field. Now come, unless you wanted me to put the reins on you again."
Ginger Pie came out ahead, he ordered the vigil pegasi to open the gates and, once done, the duo left the palace. That was one of the very few times that Blueblood left the palace, always accompanied by Ginger. They would go somewhere far from the capital and, to the prince's greatest chagrin, they would walk to, wherever it was, that field. It took an hour and a half just to walk. Blueblood was already panting from the effort. I think I'll have to learn the teleportation spell, I can't walk anymore. He thought, making a mental note to try and learn the spell. The prince stopped and observed the place, it was a quite large farm, there were some orchards filled with peaches and others with large apples ready to be harvested.
"Where... Where are we?" The prince dropped to the grass to try to catch his breath.
"Welcome to the peach ranch!" Ginger picked him up and threw him under her back. "Come on, kid! Get up! It was just a walk, you still have a lot to do."
"Just a walk?! We walked four kilometers!" The prince threw himself off Ginger's back and tried to stay on his feet. His legs felt weak from exhaustion.
"Nonsense, I know you're not used to it, but this won't be the first time you've come here. Now come, I want to introduce you to Peachy Sweet, she's the one who's going to take you to the field where they need to be plowed."
They walked through the field, saw a house just ahead. It was big, red and with a white roof, and there were peach designs carved on the door. A little further behind the house, there was a chicken coop, and a few meters further there was a pig pen. Blueblood screwed up his face, smelling the mud and the neighing of the pigs smearing themselves in it. His gaze then turned to a mare still in foal, with pastel green fur and her reddish mane tied in a dark green bow. She gave a wide smile to her visitors and addressed them with a rural, country accent and without the finesse that the prince thought she might have.
"Hi, Peachy, is your dad there?" Ginger bent down to the filly's height.
"Yes, he's in the pen at the new field. I'll take you there." Peachy smiled happily, quickly fading it and becoming more shy when she noticed Blueblood's presence.
The harness around the prince's neck didn't bother him as much as having to walk another league under the sun, his hooves seemed to have gotten hot when stepping on the hot grass and his muscles were shaking due to the effort he had made walking from the castle to the field. He remained firm so as not to waste the last bit of pride he had left by throwing himself on the grass looking for a rest.
"Argh! Finally!" The prince grumbled.
"Hi, Ginger, I thought you weren't going to come anymore, I took too long." And once again an unknown pony catches Blueblood's attention. Now he was a stallion, perhaps more robust than Ginger, his coat was a clay red that shone in the sunlight and his mane, short and moss green, had gray markings giving a reminder of his coming of age.
"I know, it's the first time the boy has walked so far, he's not used to it." Ginger pushed the colt in the side. "Come on, introduce yourself." "Hello, sir..." The prince made an effort (clearly followed by a displeased grimace).
"I'm Apple Cinnamon, you must be Prince Blueblood, am I right? Well, now that you're here, you should have an idea of what you're going to do with this harness. Come, as soon as Ginger heard that I was looking for someone who could plow the field, he spared no effort to make Celestia allow him to come."
"Do not tell me." The prince glanced sideways at the stallion beside him.
"Peachy will take you to the plow. Me and Ginger will be waiting in the barn." Apple Cinnamon, followed by Ginger Pie, left the foals alone.
Peachy Sweet led him to the plow, a metal ridge-like structure with two wooden arms curved so that it hooked into the harness collar. Blueblood sighed deeply in hopes that this would give him some strength to be able to pull the plow without the aid of magic, or maybe... A little magical help wouldn't hurt him, after all, Ginger and Cinnamon weren't keeping an eye on him.
"Do you need help putting the plow in?" Peachy was still there (much to Blueblood's chagrin).
"No, I can do it myself." In fact, he wanted help, yes, but he didn't want to hurt his pride even more. When she attached the wooden arm ropes to the harness, he pulled, with a lightness he never thought possible. "Oh, that's quite light."
"That's because you're not in prison, you fool!" Peachy laughed. The prince's ears drooped and he cringed in embarrassment. "Here, let me lock it up for you."
Peachy tied the ropes tightly to the harness, also attaching it to the metal rods that came out of the back of the prince's necklace. He tightened it well in the chest area so that the collar ropes were not the only ones to concentrate the force when pulling the plow.
"Ready! Try pulling now." The filly moved away from the prince.
"Argh, it's too tight!" Blueblood started to move, in fact he tried, as he almost fell when the ropes held him in place. The harness, stuck in the ground, didn't move even a millimeter from its place.
"That's the only way to stop the ropes if the harness slips."
Blueblood tried again and nothing came out of the harness, he pulled again and nothing happened. He sat down, giving up on pulling the object.
"Come on, it's not that hard." Peachy tried to encourage the boy.
"Isn't it so hard? That thing didn't even move! How can you Earth ponies do that?"
"Come on, it's not that difficult. Try again, harder."
And once again he tried, it didn't work. Already defeated, Blueblood allowed his body to fall to the ground. The colt was no longer feeling well, his face was so clear, he kept thinking about the argument he had had with Cadance in the morning. Peachy noticed, after all, he wasn't even trying to hide his discomfort anymore, so she sat down opposite him on the lawn.
"What is it, prince?"
"I can't take this anymore..." Blueblood buried his face between his hooves. Staying silent, he left a space for him to see Peachy's kind and compassionate look, feeling even worse when he remembered what he had said earlier.
"Hey, don't be like that." Peachy approached, nudging his head with her hoof. She untied the knots from the arms of the harness and from the prince's chest. "Now tell me, what's wrong?"
"I had a fight with someone earlier and I ended up hurting them along with other ponies..." He finally uncovered his face, took a deep breath and looked at Peachy, who was smiling at him sweetly. It was at least charming to Blueblood, something he would never say out loud.
"Well, when you hurt someone, you acknowledge what you did and apologize."
"It seems easy when you say it like that."
"It seems that way, but it's difficult for someone to look beyond their own pride to see that it's wrong. That seems to be your case." She laughed.
Blueblood stopped for a moment, saw her laugh, the simplicity on her face was charming. She wasn't wrong, he was denying himself until he came to the peach ranch and realized how wrong he was in treating those who live simply with inferiority. He stopped thinking for a moment when he realized that their hooves were touching. The difference was clear, Peachy's hooves were dirty with dirt and a little cracked, while theirs shined and were smooth as crystals. His cheeks flushed at the act and he allowed himself to lower his ears.
Before he could say anything, in the distance he saw Apple Cinnamon and Ginger Pie coming towards them. Peachy then got up and trotted towards her father. Blueblood stood there, thinking about her words.
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
The long walk caused the pair to arrive at dusk. BlueBlood was already so worn he even cared when he received a ginger sermon for not plowing the Apple Cinnamon field. To his unhappiness, there was a party in the gardens of the palace, the whole Elite of Canterlot was there. He liked to be present at the social parties, especially when there were other admirable ponies and as snobs as he, but now, he just wanted to see a specific pony. The rosy alicorn had locked up in the library, reading the end of his novel. She did not notice BlueBlood's entry that was nothing but discreet.
"Cadance? Are you there? Oh, there you are." BlueBlood walked slowly, sat ahead of Cadance on the table. "Wow! Where were you?" The pot was frightened by the foal's sight. Her by the white was muddy and the slightly messy crin.
"That does not matter now, I came here because ... I ..." BlueBlood's barrier ripped off, but he was determined to go through pride, however difficult. "I came to apologize for saying what I said earlier. I was foolish and inappropriate, I hurt you, I hurt everyone from the palace that, wanting or not, they had humble origin. You were right when I said I had no idea what the reality was like But now I know a difficult part of it." The words came out stuck, as if he struggled not to say them. Cadance smiled tenderly, glad BlueBlood has recognized his mistake.
A blue glow appeared from her flank, her Cutie Mark shone beautifully in the same way as the aura of her horn. She was not doing it consciously, her aura wrapped the body of the prince and then concentrated on the chest. He felt as if something clinged in his heart and suddenly in his mind something seemed different, although everything remained the same. Then the glow stopped and BlueBlood was static on the floor.
"What was that?" He trembled. "I-I do not know, are you okay?" Cadance ran to find out the foal.
"Yes? I'm normal, at least I feel normal." He looked at his tail, to make sure there was nothing different.
"Great, I'm glad you recognized you were wrong."
"It's hard to go over the pride ..."
"I imagine, but you got it and it's already a start." Cade smiled.
· · • • • ✤ • • • · ·
"So, it was exactly as I imagined. When making a quick visit to the north, I noticed that on the horizon something seemed unstable and it was not the unnatural storms that were constantly occurring in the region. A large shadow , not a creature, but a building that It showed itself in the middle of the fog, appearing imposing and morbidly grand. Right at the top of the highest construction peak in the shadow, a blue glow caught my attention. In fact, the curse was weakening, that was enough to carry the heart What remains to be seen is how long this curse will last, for if the empire will not be the only thing to return."
Celestia rested her quill on the inkwell. The first part of her theory was confirmed, so the second part could be easily accepted when she finally discovered the connection between Cadance's magic and the crystal heart. What was Cadance's magic capable of doing?
